Following the successful training at the UNFPA Climate and FGM HackLab (virtual bootcamps), 6 innovators were selected as winners in a follow-up pitch event and have been invited to participate in the UNFPA Incubation Programme.
UNFPA in partnership with AfriLabs will leverage AfriLabs’ existing pipeline of innovation hubs across the locations of the innovators to provide a robust and intensive 6-month incubation programme, which will entail capacity-building activities focused on product and business development of the selected innovations, and support with resources and opportunities to produce full-fledged viable and scalable innovations and solutions. The selected hubs will provide incubation services to the UNFPA Climate and FGM HackLab top innovators via online and offline channels throughout the programme.
UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office, under the flagship Safeguard Young People Programme, launched the Climate HackLab project in May 2021. The HackLab is a climate innovation project that aims to build climate resilience and generate innovative climate adaptation solutions led by young people, especially women and girls. The UNFPA FGM HackLab project aims to empower young people and offer them the opportunity to be game-changers and drivers of a sustainable green future. The project targets young innovators, especially women and girls, who have innovative solutions that will accelerate efforts toward UNFPA’s goal of ending gender-based violence and harmful practices by 2030.
Meet the selected innovators and startups
- Agnes Kimweri is a Laboratory Technologist and founder of Agki Medical Laboratory company in Tanzania. By using free carbon immersion electric motorcycles Agki medical lab offers mobile clinics for anaemia patients especially pregnant women and children under five age living in rural communities by providing affordable haemoglobin tests, health education and drugs such as folic acid for those with low blood levels.
- Agripa Maposa is the CEO and founder of Tivwane Money Solution, a registered company in Zambia that supplies financing and training to help small farmers grow their way out of hunger. To combat climate change which causes all forms of malnutrition, poverty and hunger amongst smallholder farmers in Zambia and Africa at large, Tivwane Money Solution provides Agriculture Asset-Based Loans such as solar irrigation equipment systems for small-scale farmers to increase their farm production.
- Joseph Mulabbi is the Team Lead of AXCES Mobile System based in Uganda. Health Mobile Application, to connect beneficiaries with medical services providers. The idea aims to improve access to health services (health, social, legal) for victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
- Dirug Samuel Yugoro is the Team Lead of Big Family 360 Foundation based in Nigeria. This is a mobile app that enhances access to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) services and information by way of referral through mobile technology & survivors can access services anonymously.
- Roukiatou SEDGO is the Team Lead of Afriyan Burkina based in Burkina Faso. It is a website, which will allow the dissemination of the testimonies of victims, written or audiovisual; and provide medical and psychological help for these victims.
- Deborah NANSANGA is the Team Lead of HERstory based in Uganda. A mobile application to collect and analyse crowdsourced, anonymous reports of FGM practices identifying patterns and key insights to increase awareness, transparency and public accountability and improve policy and tactical precision with data-led insights.
AfriLabs, being the largest pan-African community of innovation centres across Africa with 353+ hubs that operate in 50 African countries selected a member hub in each of the innovators’ countries to carry out the incubation programme.
Meet the selected hubs
- Ennovate Hub, Dar Es Salaam & Mwanza, Tanzania – Ennovate Hub is an incubator and co-creation space with the fundamental objective to facilitate entrepreneurship development across the continent, inspire innovation in designing today’s solutions for the future, support early-stage entrepreneurs to scale and become investment-ready and to build collaborations across the startup value chain to strengthen startup economic activities.
- Jacaranda Hub, Lusaka, Zambia – Jacaranda hub has an independent body that oversees the management and runs a not-for-profit business model. They are an Incubator and Accelerator focused on social impact, youth engagement and skill acquisition and get most of their funds from Africa.
- North-East Humanitarian Innovation Hub, Yola, Nigeria – North-East Humanitarian Innovation Hub developed an ecosystem of innovation close to conflict and natural disaster-affected people by co-creating solutions with them and with humanitarian service providers to address the protection and assistance challenges that have remained so far neglected to address in the recovery rebuilding of the North East.
- Burkina Business Incubator (BBI), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – The Burkina Business Incubator Association (BBI) is an incubation centre for SMEs, a framework for the maturation of ideas for innovative projects and training in business creation, business development, a real common working space. Its main purpose is the promotion of entrepreneurship through the selection of innovative and high-potential projects and their support from ideas to launch through the economic model, studies, training of the promoter, mobilisation of resources and the creation of the company. BBI prioritizes projects from the following areas: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Agro-Industry, Tourism and Hospitality, Renewable Energies and Environment, and Crafts.
Stay with us as we share more updates on the journey of these admitted startups. For further enquiries, kindly send an email to taiye@afrilabs.com.